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terminology - What do you call words that are separated by a hyphen?


What do you call words like one-note that are separated by a hyphen?



Answer



I would call them hyphenated compounds, as opposed to solid compounds and open compounds. Note how they are not dashed. That's because a hyphen (-) is not the same as a dash (–, —, ⁓, ‒).



Short compounds may be written in three different ways, which do not correspond to different pronunciations, however:



  • The "solid" or "closed" forms in which two usually moderately short words appear together as one. Solid compounds most likely consist of short (monosyllabic) units that often have been established in the language for a long time. Examples are housewife, lawsuit, wallpaper, etc.

  • The hyphenated form in which two or more words are connected by a hyphen. Compounds that contain affixes, such as house-build(er) and single-mind(ed)(ness), as well as adjective-adjective compounds and verb-verb compounds, such as blue-green and freeze-dried, are often hyphenated. Compounds that contain articles, prepositions or conjunctions, such as rent-a-cop, mother-of-pearl and salt-and-pepper, are also often hyphenated.

  • The open or spaced form consisting of newer combinations of usually longer words, such as distance learning, player piano, lawn tennis, etc.



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